Ontario Job Losses Reveal Need for Immediate Repeal of Bill 148

Media Release

Ontario Job Losses Reveal Need for Immediate Repeal of Bill 148

September 7, 2018

(Toronto, September 7, 2018) – Today, Rocco Rossi, President and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) released the following statement in response to Ontario’s dramatic job losses published by Statistics Canada.

“Today, we learned that in the last month, Ontario has experienced the biggest employment decline in almost a decade. Today’s news reflects what we have been hearing from our members for months—we need to build an economy that connects workers to jobs and this begins with the immediate repeal of Bill 148, the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017.

“The Ontario business community has made it clear—Bill 148 has led to a substantial decrease in staff hours and capital investment as well as an increased reliance on automation. This dramatic decline in over 80,000 jobs reflects the work that must be done to build a prosperous and competitive province.

“Premier Ford pledged to make Ontario ‘Open for Business’ by implementing policies that make it easier to invest, start, and grow a business. We strongly encourage the Government of Ontario to resolve the unintended but predictable impacts of Bill 148 and work collaboratively with Ontario’s employer community to strengthen business competitiveness and economic prosperity.”

About the Ontario Chamber of Commerce
For more than a century, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) has been the independent, non-partisan voice of Ontario business. The OCC’s mission is to support economic growth in Ontario by defending business priorities at Queen’s Park on behalf of its network’s diverse 60,000 members.